Sheeda
The Sheeda are a species that feature in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
The Sheeda were native to the eternal summer's end on Sheeda-Side that was an unspeakable land that was basked by a vampire sun. (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #1) It was revealed that the Sheeda owed their existence to a being named Zor, a renegade Time Tailor, who rewrote reality so that they would attack the present day. When during the crossover Zor was defeated by Zatanna and captured by his fellow Time Tailors.
They were actually native to Earth but developed in one billion years in the future. In this time period, their homeworld was a ransacked planet that slowly moved towards a blistering undead sun. The surging seas had boiled away that left behind abyssal hollows that were brimming with gloomy fog banks which were fifty miles high. (Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein v1 #4) Around 400,000 B.C., Neanderthal super-scientists that formed by the actions of the New Gods warriors Aurakles managed to craft a time engine in order to travel to the distant future. Once there, they encounter the Sheeda who scavenged the engine and reverse engineered it to travel back in time to harvest from history. Thus, the Sheeda began the first of their Harrowings of history where they emerged in the time of Aurakles and captured him whilst destroying the civilization he had forged. (Seven Soldiers of Victory v1 #1)
The Sheeda had realized that they were the last race who would ever inhabit the Earth, and the culture had devolved to callous survival as a result of this realization. However, all this changed with the arrival of an automated time-machine built by advanced Neanderthals, which arrived in their domain one day. Reverse-engineering the device, the Sheeda returned to Neanderthal times and promptly raided the Earth. Realizing that they could prolong their empire's rule by plundering the Earth's past, the Sheeda reorganized the civilization to take advantage of regular 'harvesting' operations.
It was claimed that many times in Earth's history when a civilization had reached its peak then the Sheeda emerged in order to claim their harvest thus destroying the society. (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #3) These events were known as Harrowings with one being done during the Arthurian era where Avalon was affected when Camelot fell to the Sheeda. (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #1) Their actions led to them being regarded as myth with the Celts referring to them as the Sidhe who were said to be from the Other World. Other human civilizations had them within folk tales where they were regarded as fairies or little people. In time, they eventually became regarded in poems, stories and nursery rhymes where they became remembered as a race memory. (Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein v1 #4) A time displaced Mister Melmoth mated with numerous women at Roanoake many years ago which produced a race of hybrid offspring that inhabited a place called Limbo Town. (Seven Soldiers: Klarion v1 #4)
By the modern age, mankind did not believe the Sheeda were real. (Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein v1 #4) Around this time, Boss Darkside made a deal with the Sheeda whereby he allowed them to ravage a continent on Earth in exchange for the warrior Aurakles. (Seven Soldiers of Victory v1 #1)
As part of preparation, Gloriana Tenebrae organized attacks on the Newsboys of Nowhere Street, the Ultramarine Corps, the JLA, and the Seven Soldiers of Victory. This was due to a prophecy that "seven soldiers" would depose her. Another part of preparations was her efforts to reclaim the Seven Imperishable Treasures; seven gifts given to the Neanderthals by the New Gods, stolen by Melmoth, stolen from Melmoth by King Arthur at the height of his reign and ultimately lost in the fall of Camelot. By the beginning of the invasion, they had reclaimed the sword Caliburn Ex Calibur and the Cauldron of Unwhen. However, the invasion hit a number of problems as it arrived. The first was the destruction of the majority of its ships in a terrorist assault by Frankenstein. When the sole remaining ship arrived, it was opposed by the people of New York, led by the Manhattan Guardian, whose mentor, the last member of the Newsboys of Nowhere Street, had warned him about the Sheeda. This force was later joined by a tribe of intelligent superpowered horses, descended from one of the Seven Imperishable Treasures.
However, the invasion hit a number of problems as it arrived. The first was the destruction of the majority of its ships in a terrorist assault by Frankenstein. When the sole remaining ship arrived, it was opposed by the people of New York, led by the Manhattan Guardian, whose mentor, the last member of the Newsboys of Nowhere Street, had warned him about the Sheeda. This force was later joined by a tribe of intelligent superpowered horses, descended from one of the Seven Imperishable Treasures. While the invasion force was thus stymied, Gloriana was attacked by Ystina the Shining Knight, time-lost last survivor of Camelot, and then by I Spyder, the last survivor of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Thrown from the balcony of her flagship, she was accidentally killed in a car crash, by a vehicle driven by the Bulleteer. Meanwhile, her ship was commandeered by Klarion the Witch Boy, who piloted it back to the far future, where he appears to have taken control of the Sheeda.
After the Dark Multiverse crisis, the Sheeda were restored and looked to find a way back into the world to continue their Harrowing. This attracted the attention of the Manhattan Guardian who was investigating the scene at Challengers Mountain where he got captured leading to his comrades in the Seven Soldiers attempting to find him. (Sideways v1 #8)
Overview
They were not fairies or aliens but rather a future evolved version of mankind. The Sheeda were held as the pinnacle of natural selection with them being the last living species clinging to life of a dying Earth. It was said that their kind was born in order to survive. (Seven Soldiers of Victory v1 #1) It was said that the Sheeda-folk were born to cling fiercely to life in the most hostile of environments. They were able to interbreed with humans and produce hybrid offspring. (Seven Soldiers: Klarion v1 #4)
To survive, the Sheeda resorted to consuming their own history in order to survive. (Seven Soldiers of Victory v1 #1) Hunger drove their species that led to them seeking out hot fields that were areas in time which were rich in infrared emissions. These indicated the presence of a healthy culture that was ripe for a harvest. Entire nations were devoured by their kind with their rich treasures taken by them. Thus, the Sheeda stole their ideas, resources, fashions and technologies where they claim all their great accomplishments. They claimed that they were the result of humanity's evolution and became super-survivor organisms and were the end result of natural selection As such, they saw themselves as the winner in the savage and bloody struggle for planetary dominance. (Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein v1 #4) Sheeda often sought to torture and humiliate their victims that they did so in a customary fashion. (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #4)
Their ranks included Fetchs that were changelings able to mask themselves as other individuals. (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #1) The circus of Maggots were pale hairless bipedal creatures that were reared on dead flesh with their contagion spreading fast. These required hosts in order to mature and become spine riders that were small hand sized humanoids that were able to control other living beings by latching to the point behind the head. They were able to empower their hosts with telepathic abilities in order to further their spread. (Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein v1 #1) Among the creatures in their beastiary included Yeth-Hounds that were known to dig the corpses of defeated enemies from their graves. (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #2) They also controlled the dead and turned them into cannibal zombies. (Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein v1 #4)
Royalty in the Sheeda were said to contain blue blood. (Seven Soldiers: Klarion v1 #4) The native language of the Sheeda was Croakspeak with words such as Croatoan translating to Fatherbox. (Seven Soldiers of Victory v1 #1)
Sheeda science was noted to be capable of studying the effects of magic and potentially breaking spells. The maze within Castle Revolving was made from the bones of their victims. This vessel contained a pool of green liquid that flowed through time itself. (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #1)
Their invasion of earlier periods of Earth's history meant that the inhabitants normally had no defense against the weapons of the Sheeda. (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #1)
Constructs created by them included a Mood 7 Mind Destroyer that were smoky black monstrous humanoids with six green eyes. They were capable of masking their appearance from others and only be visible to their target. Physical strikes could not hurt them and they killed their enemies with words. Thus, they did not attack their enemies through physical strength but rather mentally tormented them with words in order to break the spirit of their foe. (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #2) For their Harrowing, the made use of time dreadnaughts that were used to go back in time and plunder history. (Seven Soldiers of Victory v1 #1)
Members
- Melmoth : describing himself as 'the last king ever', Melmoth ruled the Sheeda at the end of life on Earth, 1 billion years in the future. By his first wife, he had one daughter. After his wife's death, he married again. When the Sheeda discovered the time-machine built by Aurakles' people at the the beginning of history, he supervised its copying, and personally led the force that destroyed Aurakles' kingdom. Seeing how his kingdom had benefited from the cast-offs of a long-dead civilization, he repeated the procedure on other ancient civilizations. However, at the First Fall of Camelot, in 8000 BC, he was finally deposed by his wife, who took the name Gloriana Tenebrae and crowned herself Queen. Left in the remains of Camelot, he called himself King Mordredd the Dead and ruled a city of the undead in the ruins of Camelot. His kingdom was destroyed by the last remnants of King Arthur's Knights, who destroyed his capital with an atomic weapon. Now undead himself, Melmoth survived another five hundred years before he discovered the current location of the Undry Cauldron, which has the power to bring the dead back to life. In an occult transfusion, he replaced his blood entirely with the water of the Cauldron, giving him immortality. Thus sustained, he decided to build an army to retake his kingdom on his Queen's next attack.
- Gloriana Tenebrae : she usurped leadership from her husband and former king Melmoth and led an invasion of the past to harvest it's history, only to be slain by the Seven Soldiers of Victory.
- Misty Kilgore : Princess Arriachnon was the first child of Melmoth, king of the Sheeda. Her mother died when she was young and the king's second wife, Gloriana Tenebrae, had it in for her. Gloriana sought immortality, so there was no need for an heiress. She ordered Neh-Buh-Loh to kill the princess. The Celestial Huntsman was moved by the girl's beauty and spared her; instead, he sent her to the past. The princess assumed the identity of Misty Kilgore, a young runaway mage, and sought help from Zatanna. Their adventures eventually led them to find Neh-Buh-Loh again, who was less moved by her beauty this time and warned her of her stepmother's imminent rise. When the invasion began, Misty and Zatanna teamed up with other heroes. Misty's magic die led her to Klarion, who had a similar die. He explained his own connection to the Sheeda, and told her it was a Fatherbox. Misty felt that with both, she could defeat Gloriana and claim the throne. Klarion had other plans; he had Teekl attack her. With both dice, he claimed the throne after the attack
Notes
- The Sheeda were created by Grant Morrison where they made their first appearance in Seven Soldiers of Victory v1 #0 (April, 2005).
- In an interview with Grant Morrison, he explained that:
- "[These soldiers] are recruited into an apocalyptic battle with some ancient Enemies of Humanity, a race of beings called the Sheeda, who are familiar to us from folk tale and legend as 'the Unseelie Court', or the people of 'Faerie' among many other names," Morrison said. "Periodically, these Sheeda arrive like locusts in their millions in huge floating 'Castles' they use to 'harvest' civilizations which have reached their peak. The Sheeda ransack these cultures and take away their treasures, their achievements, their learning to enrich their own burned-out culture.
- The name is from the Irish Sidhe, pronounced 'Shee', as in banshee. The Sidhe were the Fairy Folk, the strange ones from the hills who haunt the old legends of so many cultures. I had a wild idea about what these legends might REALLY be describing and realised I'd found the perfect villains for this story. I based my portrayal of the Sheeda civilization itself on a dark, inverted Goth image of Queen Elizabeth 1's England. They're very evil, decadent and corrupt but as I say we don't reveal their TRUE nature and who they really are until later in the series. In FRANKENSTEIN! issue 4 in fact, 'Frankenstein vs. Fairyland'."
Appearances
- Seven Soldiers of Victory v1: (2005)
- Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein v1 #1-4
- Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight v1 #1-4:
- Sideaways v1:
External Links
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